The Person of the Year award is given to "a person, couple, group, idea, place, or machine" that has "for better or for worse done the most to influence the events of the year." TIME's editorial team decides the winner.

The Protestor, a group choice inspired by Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian fruit vendor who famously set himself on fire in a public square, received the award in 2011, while Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg won in 2010.

TIME's 2012 winner for Person of the Year will be announced tomorrow morning.

Let me get this straight, the article is giving him credit for bringing 200 jobs to the US, encouraging FoxConn to be just a semi-sweat shop instead of full sweat shop and apologizing for the Maps Fiasco and that's worth 'Person of the Year'???

In all seriousness though, I don't think Tim has made the jump to the style of management required to put out the world changing products like Steve did. Granted, he's done a great job with what disasters he's had to deal with so far, but hasn't made any unexpected or earth shattering contributions yet. Here's hoping for 2013.

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15" MacBook Pro; iPhone 4S

Last edited by grapes911; Dec 20, 2012 at 07:37 AM.
Reason: removed quote and response to now deleted post

Within the US, I'd say the American voter, or possibly Barack Obama. But since I have a US-centric view, I can't comment on who might be more appropriate at a world level, simply because I don't know what's going on worldwide nearly as much as I do in the US. We have the world's largest GDP, but there are about 7 billion people on Earth and each of them has a world within him or her, and many of them live in worlds that are influenced by people I've never heard of.

I guess I'd also wonder if they try to pick someone who promoted free-trade in the past. China's growth has been amazing in that it continues without the boom/bust cycle we're used to, and I assume it's largely because of free trade that wealth will eventually start to equalize worldwide. Wasn't Clinton largely responsible for free trade with China? Maybe he'll get a nod again!

I wish they didn't nominate any CEOs in the list... It should be reserved to actual heroes of the world that actually thrived to make changes to help humanity without any profit-driven intent.

This is not an award or honor. It is not meant to be given to someone for being a hero. The Time Person of the Year is given to the person (or persons) who most influenced events. Past winners have included Hitler and Stalin.and the Ayatollah Khomeini.

Cook and Apple have been significantly impactful and his consideration is fair, although I don't think he should/will win.

I was under the impression that the BTO macs were always finished up in the USA and that elements of the products (glass, parts) were manufactured in the USA. During the interview I heard him saying that he'd "like to see production in the USA" but currently there wasn't the skill set/education to do it?

And why the hell is this one man on the shortlist for person of the year? The company as a whole hasn't done anything spectacular over the last year other than grow products sold/increase their own cash pot

When Steve Jobs was nominated, he was nominated based on years of products he helped to create or dominate industries with. Last I checked, Tim Cook was good with the operations but nothing inspirational or industry revolutionary. Kind of seems these people who nominate are running out of ideas in a dead economy.

This is not an award or honor. It is not meant to be given to someone for being a hero. The Time Person of the Year is given to the person (or persons) who most influenced events. Past winners have included Hitler and Stalin.and the Ayatollah Khomeini.

Cook and Apple have been significantly impactful and his consideration is fair, although I don't think he should/will win.

If it's for the year 2012 - the only "accomplishment" Tim really has under his belt is keeping Apple going and thriving. But isn't that the job of any CEO? Is there something that Tim has done that has put him above everyone else in 2012?